


I am free

by mintfrosting



Series: Nancy loves ladies [5]
Category: Harlots (TV)
Genre: Drinking, F/F, Femslash, Kissing, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, Lesbian awakening, Post-Canon, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 03:26:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11199501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintfrosting/pseuds/mintfrosting
Summary: Lady Caroline is a widow now, and she's free to do whatever she wants with her fortune. Turns out what she wants might be a night with Nancy Birch.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Lady Caroline is gay I don't make the rules

“Lady Caroline! Where are you going at this hour?”

A maid follows her through the entryway, where the lady hurries onward in a brilliant green dress and velvet cloak, her red hair pinned up in meticulous fashion and jewels adorning her ears.

“I’ll go wherever I please.”

She lifts her skirts as she steps into a waiting carriage, where Charlotte Wells sits grinning at the sight of her.

“You look good for a mourning widow.”

“Who’s mourning?” Her bright blue eyes are full of promise. “I’d rather celebrate.”

“Then we shall.”

After some exchange of letters, they’ve decided to meet as friends. Now Lady Caroline looks out the window while the carriage starts to move.

“Where are we going?” she asks.

“For a drink of course. Don’t you want to get a drink?”

She nods. “All right.”

 

But the sight of the tavern isn’t quite what she imagined.

“Here?” she says as they arrive, on a dirty street littered with beggars and harlots.

“It’s a good place,” says Charlotte, giving her a smirk and a pat on the knee as she exits the carriage. So Caroline follows.

There’s a girl in a red cloak loitering just outside the door.

“Oi! Pretty lady, you want to give me money?”

Her friend starts giggling. “Violet, leave her be.”

Violet’s got a cute little devilish smirk as she eyes Lady Caroline - who plops a coin right in her hand.

She’s surprised. “Hey, thanks.”

Inside, the tavern reeks of booze and crowds the mind with constant chatter. Laughter erupts from opposite corners in the candle-lit dark, and girls are chatting up sailors and drunkards at every turn. A few eyes turn to follow Lady Caroline, though no one approaches her directly. She feels quite immaculate and out of place. But then, Charlotte should feel a bit out of place too, shouldn’t she?

Not really. She’s found a man she knows and stopped in her tracks to chat, while Caroline nervously waits.

“You’ve got to stop beggin’ for your money, Violet.” There’s a rough and somehow lovely female voice from the door, and a devilishly handsome dark-haired woman in ankle-length skirts, a coat and tricorne hat struts into the tavern. She’s holding some odd sort of cane, and she’s got a confident swagger that’s sinfully attractive. Even at first glance, she seems so liberated and powerful. Lady Caroline gets the thought that she wants that power to rub off on her.

“Worth a shot though innit?” says Violet. “Worked on that one.” She points directly at Lady Caroline, and she’s caught wide-eyed in the gaze of that beautiful, powerful woman. Their eyes meet for barely a second, and the handsome stranger gives an unimpressed smirk. Then she turns and goes on talking to Violet while they go and get a drink.

 

Lady Caroline can’t help but ask about her while she sits sipping ale with Charlotte.

“Who is that?” she asks, discreetly pointing at the other table.

“What. Nancy?” Charlotte looks over. “Friend of my mother.”

“Really. What does she do?” By the look of her skirts, she’s a harlot, but she doesn’t really seem like the others.

Charlotte sips her drink. “You see that cane in her hand?”

Lady Caroline nods.

“She hits men with it. For pay.” Charlotte can’t help but laugh a bit.

“Why...?”

“Don’t know… I guess some of ‘em like that.”

Lady Caroline makes a face in disgust, and Charlotte goes on laughing.

“I don’t think she likes the men very much,” she explains. “Takes it out on them in her own way.”

Then Lady Caroline nods in understanding.

“You going to drink that?” asks Charlotte.

She realizes her distraction and brings the cup to her lips.

 

There’s music and dancing, rhythmic clapping and laughter filling up the tavern that night. Lady Caroline stands and watches from the sidelines, only half done with her drink. Charlotte dances with some of the better-dressed men, and Violet with anyone whose pocket she can pick. The handsome stranger, Nancy, is nowhere to be seen.

“You shouldn’t give her your money.”

Oh... There she is. Lady Caroline looks up to see her striking face and messy falling waves of hair not two steps away.

“Why not?” she replies.

“She doesn’t need your pity,” says Nancy, and sips from her cup. “She makes enough on her own.”

“Does she?” asks Lady Caroline. “Does she have a good life?”

Nancy looks up at her, and her darkly lined eyes are lovely blue and thoughtful.

“She’s my girl,” she answers. “Lives in my house. I take care of her.”

Lady Caroline is inclined to believe her. She nods, and then finds herself in the midst of introductions.

“Nancy Birch. I’d kiss your hand, but I haven’t got one free.” She indicates her cane and cup.

The lady considers lifting her own hand for a kiss, but she’s a bit too inhibited.

“Lady Caroline Howard,” she replies.

“Ah… a widow. Sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t be.”

Nancy reads her expression, then starts to laugh.

“Glad the prick’s dead, ah?”

Lady Caroline nods in agreement. Nancy decides to clink their glasses, and they share a sip together. But Caroline would rather change the subject.

“What about you, Miss Birch?” she asks. “Do you need my pity?”

Nancy considers that. “I’d take your business,” she says. “Do you like to be punished?”

Then Nancy gives her a look that could knock her right over if she wasn’t careful. It’s a curious look, inquisitive, and at the same time wickedly dirty. Lady Caroline takes a glance at the cane in her hand and definitively shakes her head.

“No,” she replies.

Nancy laughs freely. “Didn’t think so,” she says, and sips her drink. “You are lovely, though. I do love female clients.”

She gives Caroline another look into her smoldering eyes, then turns to go on elsewhere. But the lady’s not done talking.

“You like to punish them?” she asks.

Nancy looks up at her, surprised.

“Worship, more like,” she replies. “I imagine that’s what you’d want.”

Dear God…

Lady Caroline can’t seem to catch her breath nor collect her thoughts. She feels like a startled deer.

Nancy smirks at her. “Forget I said anything,” she says, and disappears.

 

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am starved for comments and feedback, please don't hesitate to leave them! thank you thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lady Caroline drinks, but she's still a little nervous... She's never done something like this before.

_“Worship, more like. I imagine that’s what you’d want.”_

The words repeat in Lady Caroline’s head while she sits in the tavern. The intensity of Nancy’s gorgeous eyes is seared into her mind, and her thoughts are all of physical touch. She imagines how it would feel to have Nancy’s hands on her arms or unpinning her hair, stroking her face or holding her close.

Or to touch Nancy… oh, heavens… to let her hair free and run her fingers through the curls, touch her slender waist beneath her bodice, feel the softness of her breasts against her palms...

She shifts in her seat, hot in the face and wondering if she could ever go through with it. The only way to relief from this personal hell should be gulping down her ale, so that’s the road she takes. And when Charlotte comes by, Lady Caroline asks if she can get something stronger.

 

With liquor in her belly, her nerves are rendered numb and she’s pleasantly dizzy. The music is lively and the crowd is full of joy. She makes her way to Nancy and places a hand on her shoulder.

“Would you care to dance?” she asks.

There’s only a moment’s hesitation. Nancy nods in agreement, handing over her birch rod to Violet. “Keep it safe,” she says.

The pair join the crowd, and Nancy takes the lead, one hand clasped in the lady’s and the other around her waist. The tavern becomes a blur around them, and all Lady Caroline can see is the blue of Nancy’s eyes.

“You have beautiful eyes, Miss Birch,” she says. Her own eyes are wide with admiration, and her cheeks are flushed from liquor. “I’ve never seen eyes that moved me so.”

Nancy faintly smiles, glancing downward in response. She seems unsure what to say or how to engage, and it’s quite endearing, watching her composure start to crack. But Lady Caroline is sure her own composure could never take a hit, whether one drink deep or three. Her inhibitions have lowered, yes. But she’s far too graceful and refined to ever seem anything less than nobility.

“What did you mean to say,” she asks Nancy, “about worship?”

“No more than what was said.”

Lady Caroline searches her eyes, preparing to be bold.

“You worship the female form?” she asks.

Nancy averts her eyes as though reluctant. But her answer is clear.

“I do indeed.”

Lady Caroline finds herself lost in the thought of being pulled into an alleyway, clutched in Nancy’s hands and kissed to within an inch of her life.

“I don’t know how to do this,” she says.

“How to dance?” says Nancy.

Despite her frustration, she’s a little amused. “No..."

Nancy pulls her closer, so alluring, so utterly irresistible. She’s too mysterious, too untouchable to suggest anything improper on her own. At least not again, when she’s already implied advances once.

So Caroline steels her courage and lowers her voice.

“I suppose I should pay you,” she says.

“If you wish.”

They’re not really dancing anymore, just holding each other, exchanging secret plans.

“How much for a kiss?”

Nancy chuckles at that.

“For you...” She gives her cheek a quick but soft kiss. “First one’s free.”

Lady Caroline’s heart pounds from the touch. To be kissed by this enchanting woman, to feel her lips and the heat of her breath is intensely exciting.

“And then?” she asks.

Nancy tells her, “I’d be happy to negotiate terms.”

But there’s no discussion needed.

“I’ll pay whatever you ask.”

 

Nancy leads her with care through the door to her house, watching her lift her skirts over the threshold. She pulls off her hat to hang it up. Then, without any warning beyond a fleeting glance, Nancy gives her a kiss on the mouth, and Lady Caroline feels her heart do flips. Nancy’s hand strokes her face, just as she imagined, and then she holds her close like she imagined as well. But further than that, Nancy presses her lips to her neck, and the sensation shoots through her like some wicked spell.

“Are we alone?” the lady asks as she reaches in her pocket, pulling out the coins to slip in Nancy’s hand. Her heart won’t stop pounding.

“Yes. My girls are at the tavern.” She pulls away to go and place the coins on the table, and reaches to take off her gloves. “Where shall we begin?” she asks, and tugs her coat off her shoulders. “May I take your cloak?”

Nancy truly looks lovely without her hat, so womanly and altogether softer. There’s no shadow to obscure her face, and there’s a certain vulnerability to it all, seeing her like this, alone in the silence of her house.

Lady Caroline turns as she unties her cloak, and Nancy comes to take it from her shoulders. Then she wraps her arms around her from behind, lips pressing against her neck once more. Lady Caroline shivers at the touch. It feels like her nerves have returned.

“Do you like to be kissed here?” Nancy asks, as though able to sense her hesitation.

“Yes,” the lady answers.

“Would you like another drink?”

“No.”

Nancy’s lips feel so good pressing kisses at her neck. But it’s all so impersonal, so sudden and strange.

“You’re nervous.”

Of course she is. Lady Caroline has only ever kissed one other woman in her life.

“I’ve never paid for…” She trails off there.

“It’s all right.” Nancy’s words are lustful and warm against her skin. “You can keep the money.” She goes on kissing her neck with more fervor, pressed close up against her, and then she licks, burning hot. Lady Caroline gasps and flinches away.

So Nancy stops.

“You don’t like this,” she says.

She does like it, but she’s simply not comfortable yet. They’re practically strangers.

Lady Caroline turns so she can look in her eyes. “I want to know who you are,” she explains.

Nancy narrows her eyes. “What?”

“I want to talk,” the lady tells her. “You can tell me about yourself.”

Nancy nods, looking surprised as though honored to be asked.

Lady Caroline takes her by the hand. “Shall we sit?” she asks.

“At the table?”

The lady shrugs, affecting coyness. She’s not completely frigid, not by a long shot.

“The bed would be fine.”

Nancy smirks as though pleased, with a glint in her eyes. She nods in agreement.

“As you wish.”

 

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone still wanted to read this, but I wrote an unposted third chapter so...

Nancy takes a seat on the edge of the bed. Lady Caroline sits beside her, hands in her lap and lurid green skirts billowing outward.

“So tell me,” she says. “Who are you, Nancy Birch?”

Her face is so elegant despite the roguish look of her - hair wild and untidy, shirt ties undone and skirts showing off her black stockings. There’s almost a look of nobility about her, beneath all that sin.

“I’m a harlot,” she replies. “Not the usual kind.”

“And you’re a bawd.”

She nods. “A woman’s got to make a living.”

“I suppose I wouldn’t know.” Lady Caroline stares at the ribbon around her neck, tied to a ring. She won’t ask about that. “How did you get where you are?” she says.

Nancy crosses one leg over the other, revealing a bit more of her stockings - and quite shapely legs. “I was a girl at Quigley’s,” she explains. “The upper-class house. Not so classy, really. She’s a kidnapper. Locks her girls up.”

Lady Caroline is listening intently. “You were kidnapped?” she asks.

“I was.” Nancy nods. “I escaped.” She looks down, rubbing at a spot of ash on her skirt. “Got my own house, and started being paid for something better. More tolerable. Don’t have to take off my clothes anymore.”

“Except for now.”

She laughs and seems to agree.

“It’s amazing what you’ve done,” says the lady, placing a hand on her thigh.

“I appreciate your flattery.”

“I mean that in earnest,” Caroline tells her. “You’re truly admirable.”

Nancy seems almost to blush, but keeps her composure quite well. “And you?” she asks.

Lady Caroline considers her answer. “I was married to a manchild,” she replies.

Nancy laughs freely. It’s a beautiful laugh. “I’m sorry,” she says, not for laughing, but for the unfortunate circumstance.

“But now I am a widow,” says the lady. “I am free.”

She feels very natural as she reaches up to pull Nancy closer, and they kiss. Nancy’s eyes remain shut for a moment when it’s done, and Lady Caroline plays with the fabric of her shirt.

“I always wanted to undress a woman,” the lady tells her then.

Nancy smiles. “Was that enough talk?”

They kiss again, softly but full of a newly found passion. Sharing their stories, however briefly, has connected them much further.

Lady Caroline glances in her eyes. “About that drink,” she says.

Nancy smiles.

“You like gin?”

 

They share a drink together, a pair of small glasses that burn down their throats and warm their cheeks. Nancy kisses her immediately after, cups still clutched in their hands, and they taste the liquor on each other’s tongue.

“Another?” says Nancy.

She agrees.

So they knock back another pair of drinks, and Nancy all but throws the glasses aside, grabbing Caroline to back her up against the wall. They kiss deeply, and the lady feels gripped with desire, full up with the marvelous pleasure of intoxication.

She really does want to get Nancy undressed. “Will you let down your hair?” she asks.

Nancy reaches back to pull her hair untied, loose curls falling free against her shoulders.

“Will you as well?”

Lady Caroline turns around to have Nancy help her, and the brush of her fingers as she takes down the lady’s hair makes her shiver with excitement.

“Give me your hand,” says Nancy. She slips the collection of pins into Caroline’s palm.

And she smiles. How considerate. “Thank you,” she says, and slips them in her pocket. Her earrings are to follow, after Nancy softly asks if she can take them off as well. She’s so charming and sweet, it makes Caroline want to see her undone by lust even more. “I do want to undress you,” she declares out loud.

“Go on, then.” Nancy turns, pulling her hair over her shoulder.

So the lady gets to work on unlacing Nancy’s stays. Made bold by drink, she unties Nancy's skirts as well.

 

Nancy falls against the pillow with her hair flowing free, undressed down to only her shirt and stockings. Lady Caroline climbs on top of her, skirts rustling, admiring the look of her all vulnerable and tipsy. Nancy pulls her downward for a kiss.

Then the lady pulls back to sit astride her, hands reaching to fondle through the thin fabric of her shirt. She caresses all up and down her chest, the protrusions of her collarbones and down across her ribs, hard and lean. Her breasts are so lovely and soft, with firm little peaks. This feels like a dream, such a wonderful and sinful dream. Lady Caroline is almost too dizzy, with drink and excitement at once.

“You’re perfect,” she gasps.

Nancy laughs at that, her head falling back.

“But truly you are,” Lady Caroline insists. “I could worship this body.”

Nancy finds that funny too, sweet laughter escaping her lips. But the lady isn’t laughing. Nancy sits up then and kisses her, fingers lacing in her free-flowing hair. She clutches at her hip, tugging her close to feel the heat of her core, and Caroline moans into the kiss. Then Nancy goes on kissing her neck. The heat of it all surges through her, and she can’t believe this is real.

Nancy’s voice is low and full of depravity. “Do you feel wicked as I do, my lady?”

She’s gasping. “Yes.”

“Shall I get down on my knees?” Nancy asks. “Or maybe on top? Do you want it fast? Or deep and slow?”

She’s too aroused to answer, her brain too clogged with liquor and deprived of pumping blood. But she’s throbbing between her thighs.

“My lady?” says Nancy.

“Let me touch you,” she replies.

Nancy hesitates, surprised by that. But she’s happy to oblige.

She tugs at her shirt and pulls it over her head, left in absolutely nothing but her stockings. Lady Caroline pushes her onto her back. Then her hands are all over her warm skin, running down her ribs to touch her waist, and back up to squeeze at her breasts and run her thumbs over her nipples. The lady can’t resist, and she dips down to kiss at her neck, trailing down to her chest. Nancy starts to stroke her hair, helping to keep it out of the way, and she flinches with pleasure when she feels the heat of her tongue at her breast.

Lady Caroline gets off on the feeling of control. She loves the power she gets from still being dressed while on top of this quivering naked woman, making her feel things and reveal her desire. The gin makes Caroline just bold enough to go ahead and reach her hand down between them, and her fingers are coated in slick, wet heat. Nancy’s eyes are shut, lips parted in sweet little shallow breaths. Caroline smears her slick in circles, and Nancy is gasping, completely at her mercy. Then the lady slides her fingertips just a little lower.

“May I…”

“Yes…”

She carefully pushes inside her, and Nancy tugs her closer, hips pressing back as though asking for more. Caroline fucks her on her fingers slow and steady, and Nancy’s soft gasps are so sweet to her ears.

“Do you want it fast?” she asks, repeating Nancy’s own words from before. “Or deep and slow?”

Nancy doesn’t answer. She’s flushed and beautiful, totally undone.

“Tell me,” says Caroline. “Please.”

Nancy looks ashamed, but she answers. “Fast.”

So the lady pulls away enough to get a better angle, and starts fucking her faster and harder and she can see the response in Nancy, fingers clutching at her pillow, breasts slightly bouncing with the thrusts. Lady Caroline thought she looked vulnerable before, but now… God have mercy.

Finally she pulls out, leaning down to kiss Nancy, and her fingers go on stroking between her thighs. Nancy responds to the kiss in earnest, tongue flicking against her lips and fingers lacing in her hair. They kiss deeply while connected by the touch.

Then at some point, Nancy’s hand moves down to press on top of hers, making her touch her in just the right way, a little faster, a little more focused. Lady Caroline watches her face as she comes, and she feels as though she’s never seen anything so beautiful.

“That’s not what I expected,” Nancy says in the silence that follows, and Caroline laughs as they part to lie at each other’s side. She watches Nancy sigh as though relieved and content.

“Was it all right?” she asks.

“Fuckin’ hell, yes.” Nancy laughs.

“I’ve never done it before,” the lady tells her.

Nancy looks at her as though surprised. “You’ve never had it with a woman?”

“No.”

Then Nancy reaches out to stroke her cheek. The touch is so gentle and tender.

“May I touch you?” she asks, and her eyes are all temptation.

Caroline’s heart thumps hard in her chest. The thought makes her nervous, but excitement and curiosity take the reins. “Yes, I suppose.” she replies.

Nancy leans in for a kiss, but the lady stops her short.

“Not inside me,” she says, before anything goes further.

Nancy doesn’t seem to mind a bit. “All right,” she replies, and takes that kiss. “Shall I use my mouth?”

Just for a moment, Lady Caroline’s not sure.

“Never mind,” Nancy says in the absence of response. “What’d you like?”

Caroline grabs at her, cursing her own hesitation. “Your mouth,” she confirms. “As you offered.”

Nancy seems pleased. “Very well,” she replies, and starts tugging up her skirts.

The lady stops her, grabbing at the fabric. “Will you not seduce me first?”

Nancy laughs in surprise. “Have I not done so, my lady?”

Lady Caroline considers that and finds herself smiling. “Indeed.”

 

 

\---


End file.
